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Mill Operations Optimised by Renosters

20 February 2013

On the 20th of February 2013 BedRock received delivery of two Renoster front end loaders at our sawmills. These assets were acquired to aid Bedrock employees in timber handling capacity and timber operational efficiency at the respective mills.

BedRock identified the essential benefits of the Renoster being prevalent in the mill operations and thus acquired one for the Piet Retief Mill and one for the Rutland Mill. The value that will be added by the two Renosters will be immense to the mill operations and BedRock is enthusiastic to see how the Renosters will increase operational efficiency at the two respective mills.

The sawmills at Piet Retief and Rutland Mills were recently upgraded with a “Pole Sorter” to sort sufficient timber for the new Chock Mills purchased and installed at the mills. These pole sorters sort between 200 and 300 tons per shift depending on the diameter of logs received. The Renoster has the capability to ensure that the pole sorter runs continuously and that the Chock Mill has enough timber to ensure maximum production.

The biggest advantage of having a Renoster is that it does the same work as three Bell Loggers, at the expense of one Bell Logger, and without the danger of other Bells and tractors congesting a small area.

A Bell Logger is designed to load and offload timber; however if the timber needs to be moved more than 20 metres, a Bell Logger is inefficient. A Renoster is designed to move timber in distances between 30 to 100 metres that makes it more efficient in this regard than the Bell Logger. The Bell Logger’s drive motors work on a push pull basis, while the Renoster has a gearbox and differential AWD (all-wheel-drive) system with an articulation, which enables it to turn in very small areas which increases its operational efficiency. Another additional benefit is that it has a multi-purpose attachment system, where within 10 minutes a fork-lift or bucket attachment can be fitted, which makes it versatile in terms of its ability to handle, stack and move timber. The Renoster has the ability to clean out the sorted timber, stack the timber into the different sorted sizes and load the timber in feed ramps into the sawmill. The capacity of the grab is thus three times that of one Bell Logger.

Renoster sorting loose timberRenoster grabbing sorted timber

Two Renosters have been in service at out our operations for over five years without any breakdowns.These assets have proved to be very durable and reliable and the additional two will be welcomed tremendously.

Mill Operations

Mill operations optimised by the addition of Renoster front end loaders. Their ability to handle, sort and stack timber will increase the Rutland and Piet Retief Mills operational efficiency.